Catharsis

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

I raise it in relationship to some thoughts I got over the weekend when seeing one of the major heads of one of the organizations I'm in give a lecture.

It seems like the overall notion of the Great Work is that we're working out karma. One senior member asked the question "How does a first-incarnation baby get karma?" and it seemed like we went back around to the understanding discussed earlier that spiritual beings or soul personalities incarnate to work off their 'not-God' aspects and become increasingly more like the Great Soul or One Mind that spawned them.

That lends me this way of thinking - that original state of having a % of 'not-God' is a bit like frozen karma that came in with us, even at our first incarnation, and the stuff that's flying around loose that we're used to considering as the components of karma or dharma are just that in a freed or converted form.

What I wonder about, as someone who wants to avoid creating more of the bad stuff as much as possible while alleviating and working off the 'not-God' aspects of self rather than just bury it, has anyone written extensively on spiritual catharsis? Also, do you get the impression that a lot of what Aleister Crowley was on about might have been wrapping RHP in LHP imagry and terminology with that idea in mind?

Just curious if anyone's done any really in-depth explorations of spiritual or karmic catharsis and if so who might have tackled it well in their writings from as many angles as possible.

[Desecrated]

You should read dalai lama.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

I had Art of Happiness 15 years ago, just that it probably was about as grocery-store checkout as you can get on Tibetan Buddhism.

[Desecrated]

I had Art of Happiness 15 years ago, just that it probably was about as grocery-store checkout as you can get on Tibetan Buddhism.

Art of happiness might be one of the best books ever written about human psychology.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

Oops, sorry about the toes.

I'm thinking about this in reference mostly to spiritual work. Maintaining relative happiness by careful choice in thought is something I stay on top of reasonably well these days, I tend to just be curious with what works on cleaning up reincarnational karma without having to dish out as a side effect of being in such situations.

[Desecrated]

Oops, sorry about the toes.

I'm thinking about this in reference mostly to spiritual work. Maintaining relative happiness by careful choice in thought is something I stay on top of reasonably well these days, I tend to just be curious with what works on cleaning up reincarnational karma without having to dish out as a side effect of being in such situations.

hahahahaha. No worries.

I do think buddhism has the best system of dealing with karma. And dalai lama surprisingly has some really good meditation techniques/visualization exorcises that really helps. No mater what religious origin you have.

If magic is selfishness, then doing Bodhisattva practices will even things out.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

I'm familiar with Poke Runyon talking about some of the meditation techniques and classes that the DH gave. It sounds like the DH's Tibetan Buddhism is as deep as any esoteric system, that's part of why I got the impression that that his work would be a bit like the work of an aerotech engineer in depth of detail in the spiritual sense while popular consumption books would be a bit like that same aerotech engineer writing an article for Yahoo news.

[manofsands]

...
It seems like the overall notion of the Great Work is that we're working out karma. One senior member asked the question "How does a first-incarnation baby get karma?" and it seemed like we went back around to the understanding discussed earlier that spiritual beings or soul personalities incarnate to work off their 'not-God' aspects and become increasingly more like the Great Soul or One Mind that spawned them.

That lends me this way of thinking - that original state of having a % of 'not-God' is a bit like frozen karma that came in with us, even at our first incarnation, and the stuff that's flying around loose that we're used to considering as the components of karma or dharma are just that in a freed or converted form.

What I wonder about, as someone who wants to avoid creating more of the bad stuff as much as possible while alleviating and working off the 'not-God' aspects of self rather than just bury it, has anyone written extensively on spiritual catharsis?...

This fits with my view of spiritual evolution. But it also made me think a lot (much appreciated). The idea of the original state having karma or working off 'not-God' is a good representation of 'the Divine Spark in a material vessle'. I think many schools of thought have us as 'perfection covered with imperfection' or 'having all the answers inside'. This would make karma like peeling off layers of the onion... or artichoke (if you don't like onions).

I don't think our 'sins' matter near as much as many of the people/books/religions say (this is, of course, IMHO). I believe such things that seem to be a big deal on the human level don't matter so much on the spirit level. Just we, as humans, want 'people to pay' for the pain and injustice they've caused us. Not taking into account that those who cause pain have probably had it heaped on them, shaped by pain, earlier in their life.

I'm not making excuses for people. Or letting them off the hook... I'm just saying... the best way to 'pay for your mistakes' is to learn from them. Don't worry about 'doing good deeds' to make up for them. Not to say you can't do good deeds, but don't do it for payment. Do it because it feels good... for others AND you.

[Cybernetic_Jazz]

I agree on doing good because you want to, and really I wasn't quite thinking of pursuing the works avenue.

I'm thinking of it more like this: a common example is the desire go to out to a bar, pick someone up, date a stripper for a while, or do something classicly 'fun but stupid' in it's generality (not in the context of the girl herself but your own reasoning and assuming hers if you're both seeing eye to eye). For the life of me I'm realizing that to actually define 'lust' properly is challenging because it seems like there's always a heavy-handed element of people labeling others with it rather than them defining it themselves and it's one thing to see outward beauty or sense chemistry with someone and say "Wow, I'd love to ride that, put it away wet, and throw it in the waste bin like a bad habit" verses just marveling at the handiwork of Isis and acknowledging that you're seeing the God without as well - ie. admitting you're seeing what you're seeing without mock humility but also admitting that you care about the person as you do all people, ie. a face or manifestation of YHVH tetragrammaton such as yourself. I'm still trying to figure out to what extent our thoughts effect the subtle realities of others, what ill effects and what doesn't, how much context plays a role, and also at what boundary line rationalizations become a vice rather than a way of cutting down overly broad heuristics.

It's a bit like the not-God within us pushes us toward adventure, but I think the efficiency with which that not-God is worked off entails embarking on such adventure in a way that you do maximize your respect for all involved and doing everything you can not to rack up interpersonal polarity or more karma for your efforts that you'd need to work off later. It's that desire for that kind of adventure that I'd love to figure out how to both a) work off the not-God by living it out but also b) living that adventure without a third party paying the price.

As for the God within being perfection and much more lenient on us - I hear what you're saying but I have to laugh a little as well. The inner self can seem like this adorable white-light-and-sugar being that loves you beyond words and it's incredibly lenient but it can go from giving you hugs, snuggles, and rainbows to dunking your head in the toilet at the flick of a wrist. It's something like a "Yeah! Do that and see what happens!" type of leniency as it opens the washer or dryer door to throw you in. In working off it's not-God on us it clearly has a gremlin side and it's that gremlin side that's made people's lives veritable hell for untold millennium. Lol, so I'm really hoping to work more directly with it as not to end up in the Loony Toons green paint-slapping machine quite as often.